Dear Hive Mind,

Marielle Quinton

@chris We had one kid drown at a beach near me this summer. He and his family had been in Canada for a year after escaping a war-torn country. We absolutely need pools to teach kids how to swim but also many newcomer adults also don't know how to swim. In most other places in the world people don't swim because the waterways are all polluted. We need pools because we have clean rivers and lakes. As a side note that beach (in Ottawa) had two drownings this year.

http

@chris You're welcome, but careful - such imagination is half way to collective actions! Forbidden by our corporate masters!

I grew up on Ocean Falls, and often used the rather outsized pool - 4 lane, 20m for a town of < 2k. It was in use all year round despite Link Lake being like, two blocks away.

ꜱᴛᴇᴇʟ ʀᴀᴛ ɢᴀᴍᴇʀ

@chris

I grew up in a town of 5k. WHen the HS built an indoor pool that allowed "open swim" and public access it was a BFD.

Learned how to swim there. Some of my best time during the summer was in the pool

? Offline

@chris I live in a town of 20k and our pool is wonderful for all ages. Seniors use it for low impact exercise, kids for fun, we have multiple after school and daycare programs (my toddler goes to a morning program), and it's of course good for regular exercise for normal age folks too. It's really the best indoor activity we have and gets used in both hot and cold weather. We live in a rainy area and the pool is a great winter activity.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@woehnlich nearest alternative is at least 30 minutes away, though it is over a mountain pass so winter time can be less than desirable. A our city is also a service city for people 1.5-2hrs away in more remote communities.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@http Ocean Falls! A classic company town. As we were at one point, on an even bigger scale (though at our biggest Port Alberni has never been more than 30,000)

Theresa

@mariellequinton @chris That is sad to hear. A tragedy like that is preventable. The Red Cross has swim lessons for adults and I hope this info is shared widely especially to new comers. Do kids still get swim lessons as part of school curriculum? We did way back in the 80s.

Marielle Quinton

@TheresaReason @chris I don't know where you lived in the 80s, but living in Ontario swimming lessons weren't part of the curriculum and still aren't. I agree it should be part of the curriculum. Schools should have pools. I learnt to swim through private lessons. This is a supervised beach, but the drownings were outside of lifeguard hours. Due the drownings all the beaches in Ottawa are getting a major auditing by the lifesaving society. People are just unaware that rivers and lakes can be dangerous even near the shore. We have accidental drownings every year. Big city, lots of water.

jimkennedy

@chris I didn't vote because our village has a population of ~350, but yes, a pool is a necessity. All summer it's really bloody hot, so the entire town is at the municipal pool. All the kids learn to swim there. Not being able to swim is super dangerous for kids in Catalonia (and Spain), particularly as everyone also swims in the river all the time.

Susan Noakes

@mariellequinton @TheresaReason @chris The other complications have been that swimming lessons were unavailable in the pandemic. The teens who should have learned to be instructors and lifeguards didn't. So now there is a shortage of swim instructors. It's Hunger Games to get swimming lessons in Toronto.

Theresa

@mariellequinton @chris I grew up in BC, in a rural area in the interior. All the elementary schools booked time at the local pool to teach swimming as part of phys ed. For 4 weeks I think. We all got a ski lesson at the local hill too. Mind you I was a kid, there probably was an extra fee parents paid I did not know about, but it was during school day, we were bussed. I don't know if it was all of BC. Swimming is an essential skill in Canada. It would be great if schools included it.

dragonfrog, Grinch pro tem

@chris I wouldn't call it a "basic necessity" exactly, in the way clean water and schools and a fire department are basic necessities, but I would expect it to be there in any city that's not in dire poverty.

I grew up in a city of around 200,000 people and I'm pretty sure there were at least 8 swimming pools, so one per 25,000 people.

myrmepropagandist

@chris

I can't answer. If it would be used YES. If not ... no.

Are there other ways for the residents to learn how to swim? (lake?)

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@futurebird the lake is very cold for 9 months of the year and the river, strong!

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

wow! Thanks for all the responses! #PleaseBoost #Polls #Pollodon

[email protected] :mstdnca:

@chris I'm surprised that so many said "No." The public pool has been an important place in my life since I was a kid going to swimming lessons, later swimming lengths as a young adult, then as a place I'd take my kids for learning and recreation, then as a place for lengths/health again, and now for the same. There have been long periods where I didn[t go to the pool regularly, but it's one of the few accessible ($) for the community. Kids, teens, young & older adults, seniors. Amazing really.